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- [00:01]
Derek Greer
Welcome to the live big broadcast with Derek Greer. We believe this teaching from God's word will empower you to live a full, impactful life in Christ. Let's dig in.
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Unknown Speaker
Today we're going to look at the dangers of feeling inadequate and its cure. Numbers 13 and 1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am given to the children of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers, you shall send amand everyone a leader among them. So each tribe had its leader sent into the land. It was really a reconnaissance mission, if you will. But when we read this verse, if you read through the Bible and you've gotten to this place, you would notice that it gets a little bit complicated here, because In Deuteronomy chapter 1 and verse 19, it tells us that it was the people who asked Moses to send out the spies. And it didn't say the Lord. So apparently the people did ask, because the Bible's true. So you just got to read between the lines. So obviously the people asked Moses to send out the spies, but Moses probably did what he always did, and he sought the Lord and he prayed to God. And then God agreed and said, okay, go ahead and send out the spies. But as we read on, what's about to happen makes sense, because what God started doing at this point was giving the people what they wanted. And sometimes the worst thing God can do is give you what you want. So just two chapters earlier, the people started complaining about God's miraculous manna. Every night he would rain down manna from heaven and feed them in the desert. They didn't have corn, and they didn't have wheat and all the rest. It was up to God. And he miraculously supplied them with every single one of their needs. And as they got bored, they started to complain, which was their pattern. And as they complained, God got so mad, he answered their prayer. And he answered their prayer by sending an east wind. And he sent so many quail that the people got sick and died. Be careful about pushing your will on God. Somebody said, where there's willfulness, God puts up a wall. But where there's willingness, God always makes a way. Then Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, which is the promised land. And he said to them, go up this way into the south and go up into the mountains and see what the land is like. Now, first you're not going to get this, but later on you will. God often requires us to see things on the inside before we see them on the Outside. You know, sometimes for me, and maybe y'all better than me, but sometimes it takes me days, months, and even years to see certain things the way God wants me to. But I've learned to stay at it because Hebrews 11:6 says, without faith, it's impossible to please God. And what is faith? Faith was actually. The Bible describes it. It says Abraham was in a little bit of a situation. He had to face the fact that his body was as good as dead and his wife was just as old. And the Bible said he had to hope against hope. How do you hope against hope? Obviously, he had a hope on the inside that he had to pit against natural hope that was warring against him on the outside. So part of Abraham's fight was to keep hope alive. Faith is holding on to what God has shown you on the inside, despite what you see on the outside. So again, the pattern of God is he wants us to see before we see. And this seeing, though, is not with our natural eyes. It's not with our natural ear. That's why Jesus would say things. He who has ears to hear. Everybody had ears to hear. He who has eyes to see, you see, the problem is not what we see with our natural eyes. The issue we're going to discover with the children of Israel, the people of God, was not what they saw on the outside. The issue was what they saw on the inside. And I want to submit to you today, the problem is not the things you see in your life on the outside. Your problem is what you see or don't see on the inside. I've already gone to preaching, verse 21. So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, near the entrance of Hamath. You see, there are some things God want you to see right now because he knows the picture on the inside of you is not yet strong enough to resist the realities if he lets you see it. So in his wisdom, sometimes he kind of hides you in the cleft of the rock. He don't tell you everything, because if you knew, you'd fall apart, run away and. And give up. But if we insist as the Israelites did, he might have to take us before we're ready. And they went up through the south and came to Hebron. Ahiman, Shishai and Talmai and the descendants of Anak were there. We'll see later that Anaks of the Anakim and Nephilim were giants. These were the Dinka tribes of Africa or the Dutch, who are the Tallest people, actually in the world, but certainly in Europe. It's a situation where everyone was over six foot tall. I was a couple years ago in the Amsterdam airport, and we were there for a couple of hours, and I happened to be about 6:1, and I went into a crowded bathroom, and I noticed that I was about a foot shorter than everyone in the bathroom. So there I am doing my business, and I look up. I did my business faster than I ever did my business in my life. Verse 25. And they returned from spying out the land after 40 days. Again, they asked God, and God said, yes. But there's this pattern where God's given them things they want, and they're about to see what their willfulness is going to bring them. Now, in the Bible, the number 40 is typically the number of difficulty and the number of testing. Remember, God flooded the earth 40 days and 40 nights. Jonah warned Nineveh for 40 days. Goliath taunted Israel at the Valley of Elah for 40 days. And Jesus was tempted in the wilderness 40 days, 40 nights. But you know, the best part of being over 40 today is we did our stupid stuff way before the Internet could immortalize it. There's an upside to being over 40 today. Pray for our children. Pray for our babies. Now, the spies departed, and then they came back to Moses and Aaron and gave a report. And all the congregation of the Children of Israel in the wilderness of Paran and Kadesh, they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and they showed them the luscious and beautiful fresh fruit of the land. Then they told him, you know, hey, you know, it's just like God promised. He said, we went into the land where youe sent us, and guess what? It truly flows with. Milk. Honey. Now, that metaphor, that language is not saying that there was cow's milk, you know, flowing up and down the streets. It was a metaphor that said that, by the way, they drank more goat's milk than cow's milk at that time anyway. But what it meant is there was a whole lot of livestock. There was these cows, there was a whole bunch of goats. And there's a land that was vibrant and it was green. And then the reason there were bees is because it wasn't the desert. There's vegetation, and the bees are up in the trees and the flowers are being pollinated. And there's a land that flows with milk and honey, agriculture and livestock. And so everyone is excited. It's just like God said. But here's the deal. If God was correct in the Description of the land. It would have been only reasonable to expect God to also be right about the victory he would give them in the land. But something started clicking off in their thinking and their reasoning. Because verse 28 says, Nevertheless. Nevertheless, the people who dwell there are strong. And they got walled cities with moats and all the rest. The cities are fortified and very large. But the problem was how soon we forget. I mean, 10 plagues they overcame. Pharaoh got to the Red Sea, God parted it. Then after the Red Sea, they got thirsty. Water came out of rock. Then they got hungry. God started raining down manna from heaven. They just experienced God sending an east wind and sending them so much quail that they got sick to their bellies. They found God to be a provider. They found God to be a savior. But how soon we forget. They didn't think about the fact that that. I mean, would God really bring you this far? Only to bring you this far. Is God's arm somehow short? Is he not able to complete that which he starts? Is God ever negligent? Is God one of those guys that gets something going but can't finish? They said. Moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak, the folks I mentioned earlier, huge people. And what happened is the Israelites went into the airport and they lost their nerve. But what you need to know is Satan is very strategic. He always plants giants at the gates of God's promises. And all a giant means is you are in the right place. Verse 29. The Amalekites also dwell in the land of the South. This is a fierce tribe. The Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites. How many of y'all got some ites you're dealing with, dwell in the mountains, in the high places. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, along the banks of the Jordan. So on top of the giants, they were dealing with some ankle biters as ferocious as badgers. So this was a tough neighborhood. This was a tough land. And you know, everybody wants a place flowing with milk and honey. And a lot of times the devil is seated right where God wants you, and you got to move him off. You hear what I'm saying? Before you step in. Verse 30. But God don't raise no punk. Stay with me. Watch this. Then Caleb, it says, quieted the people before Moses. You know why he had to quiet them? Because they started murmuring and complaining again. But Caleb was of a different spirit. You know, a lot of folks going to hear what I say, but my prayer is, you are of a different spirit. Spirit. And you have ears to hear, and you step into a comedian said. He said complainers change their complaints, but they never reduce the amount of time they spend complaining. And at this point, the children of God have become chronic complainers. Like a few of y'all in here. Don't look at nobody chronic. No matter what, you'll find. You'll find a reason to be unhappy, a reason to find fault, a reason to be critical. But the Bible said these stories are recorded for our instruction. God's trying to teach us something here. So Caleb has a different spirit and said, let us go at once. I don't want no committee meeting. I don't want y'all to talk about it. Think about it. Right now, we already got God's word. The land's just like God told us. So he who's begun is going to finish it. So let's go up at once. Don't hesitate, don't doubt, don't stutter and take possession. But watch this. He didn't say, let's go conquer it. He said, let's go what? Possess it. He saw that the victory was already won and done. There was nothing left to it. But to what? Do it. You see all of us on this side of Calvary, the victory's already been won. Jesus uttered from the cross. It is finished. The battle has been wonderful. The debt has been paid. We don't have to really fight in the same way for victory. Now. The Bible does say, fight the good fight of faith. But watch it here. The Bible speaks of inheritance and our inheritance. Why does the Bible use such language? Because the New Testament is just that. It's a New Testament. It's the will and deed of. Of Jesus, the Christ and a testament or a deed or will. Better once it's in place. Those who receive or are beneficiaries of that will, they don't have to earn nothing. The mom and dad or grandma, granddad or Whoever who's worked 40, 50 years, they put in the work, and the inheritors are the beneficiaries. So those of us that have an inheritance, we're not trying to earn anything. We're just trying to receive that which has already been gained. Do you understand what I'm. The Bible calls us more than conquerors. He was this boxer, you know, that went into a boxing match. I mean, it went the whole, you know, 11 rounds. He came out bloody and bruised and all beat up. But, you know, he won and he got the belt and he got the check, by the way, a check for the younger people. It's written on a piece of paper. And he went home and gave it to his wife. Here's the deal. That boxer who won the fight was a conqueror. But his wife was more than a conqueror. She didn't have to get into the ring. She didn't have to get bruised or bloody. So when Christ says, you are more than a conqueror, he paid the price on the cross so that you could be more than you ever imagined. More than you can ever think. All right. He said, let us go and take possession. For we are well, not just able, well able to overcome it. It's really good to know how good God is. That's important. But it's irrelevant unless you also know how great God is and how good God is in you. God in the sky does not benefit me. The Bible said Christ in me. The hope of glory is what God can do in my life, in my story and through me. That makes them so. A lot of us, we got great theology, but when it comes to practice, that's where we start. But watch this. He said, for not God, for we are able thank God for what God has done through others. But you gotta dare to believe that God will do it for you, too. I mean, it's easy to believe that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob could do it. It's easy to believe that Mary and Peter, James and John can do it. Cause they already did it. But watch what Caleb said, for we are well able to overcome it. And what I want to tell you is the old folks ain't here no more, Mama. And them, you know, your great uncle Deacon, you know, or whomever. They not here no more. Martin Luther, Martin Luther King, they ain't here no more. Billy Graham is gone. Mama and them are gone. So it's left to us to slay our lions and bears in our generation. It's up to us to cross our red seas. It's up to us to experience God's provision and manna in the desert. It's up to us to experience God providing for every thirst when we're thirsty. It's up to us to experience God defeating our giants. And it's up to us to show the world that there's still a God that gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. But the men who had gone up with him said we are not able. Two men said we could do it. Ten said we can't. The majority's not always right. So you could tell me all you want. What they saying on your television set about what's what? And you know, the majority of Americans think 80%. By the way, all these folks were leaders. They were leaders of the clans that went out. They oughta know better. 80% were wrong. But only Joshua and Caleb, 20% got it right. But the man who gone up with him said, we're not able to go up against these people, for they are stronger than we. Now listen, I gotta. Abraham faced the fact his body was as good as dead. He didn't pretend that he was young. He didn't pretend mama was young. It was gonna take God for them to have a baby at 90 and 100. So I agree with you that the things you're facing in your life are bigger than you. My question is, is it bigger than God? That's the question. And they gave the children of Israel a bad report. The King James version says evil report. You see, to God, being bad is not just using a few four letter words. Being evil is not just showing up at the strip joint. Being wicked doesn't necessarily mean you have a needle hanging out of your arm. What made them evil was the way they chose to see things. And what I've discovered, there are some highly moral people that are wicked because we refuse to see things as God sees things. But with God, you got to see it before you see. See it without faith, it's impossible to please him. So you could get all your morality right, but without faith, you ain't still made God happy. If you want to make God happy, it simply works like this. God said it, I believe it, and that settles it. And that happens on the in side. And they gave the children of Israel. Now don't think Bishop said that. I can go and do all those things, but as long as I see that's not what I'm saying. God wants us to live right for our good. And they gave the children of Israel bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, the land through which we have gone as spies is the land that devours its inhabitants. So they go from doubt to exaggerating. And fear is typically just exaggerating your weakness against your opponent's strength. You see, my Bible says God's strength is made perfect in weakness. It says when I'm weak, he's strong. So stop complaining about the size of the giant in your life, but compare the giant to your God. Learn from that little boy. Look at that boy's attitude. He doesn't have a chance. But if God be for you, who can be against you? You need to man up like that child and see something on the inside of you greater than the things on the outside of you. And all the men whom we saw in it are men of great stature. They tall, they big, they like the Danish. There. There we see the giants, the descendants of Anak who came from the giants. And watch this. And we, we were like grasshoppers. Watch this in our own. The problem was in their own, their own. Their own wasn't God's sight. We were like grasshoppers in our own sight. If you belong to God, it is not who you are that's holding you back. It's who you think you are. And watch this. And so they were in their sight. What you think about yourself is contagious. You're like, well, they got this hat. They think this about me. Well, where they get that? From some of it. You see, they chose to trust the facts of the case and ignore the higher truth of the case. The facts are, you got a problem. But the truth is, if God be for you, who can be against you? That's the truth. I recognize what the doctor said. I recognize what your bank account said. But what has God said? His truth will set you free. And if you want to be free, believe his word. Faith is like a two sided coin. On one side is knowing who Christ is and what he's done for you on that one side. But the other side is knowing who Christ is in you and what God wants to do through you. Thank God what he's done in my life through the preaching. But what about your life? Faith is not just believing God is great, but greater is he that's in me, that's in the world. Do you understand what I'm saying? That's the faith that overcomes the world. When you get it on the inside of you and you see it. Numbers 14 and 1. So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried. And the people wept all night. You know why they cried? You know why they wept? You know why they mourned? You know? Because God didn't make it easy. You see, if God made it easy, nobody would need God and nobody would have a story worth telling. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron. You can't get God. You start messing with church leaders and saying, it's the church, it's the church folk. And the whole congregation said to them, if only we had died in the land of Egypt. What happened to, before I be a slave, I'll be buried in my grave? What did that worship team in vogue say? Free your mind and the Rest will follow. No, no. They were physically free, but their minds were still enslaved. You aren't free until you're free on the inside. Real freedom's on the inside. Paul was in prison, but he was free. Make me a slave. I'll still be free because I'm free on the inside. You understand what I'm saying? Freedom's not real. Freedom's not something somebody can give you. It's something only God can give you understand what I'm saying? He said, if only we had died in the wood. This is the whole congregation saying. They said, be careful what you ask for. Because again, it wasn't long before God gave them exactly what they asked. And what God was about to do is send this entire generation to die in the wilderness. And there are things that God has for you that if you keep grumbling and complaining, coming up with excuses. God might have to wait for the next generation. The next generation. The next generation. Come on, I gotta Finish this. Verse 4. So after a couple verses of bickering and complaining and whining with God and all that, this is what sensed it for God. And this is why he's like, y'all just gonna die. I'm not messing with y'all. Y'all just your children. I might talk with your children, but y'all, y'all, I'm done. And they said that they had they the audacity, say to one another, let us select a leader and return to slavery, return to eat where they were beaten on their backs. And. And I mean, I got you. Come on now. Let us select a leader. Return to Egypt. And the reason I'm in this passage today, because there are some beloved in this room who are thinking about returning to your former way of life, returning to your old slavery, your own bondages, your old former captivity, all because God has asked you to face a few giants in your life. But these giants that are in your way are not the breaking of you, but the making of you. The only reason we know David's name was because of Goliath. And that giant in your life is there for God to prove a point, to write another story, to give you a testimony to share. Let us select a leader to return to Egypt. They wanted to go back all because they faced some obstacles, some giants, some problems. But if it were easy, everyone would do it. That's why we only have, you know, a little over a thousand in this room versus 10,000. Because Jesus said, didn't he say, enter through the narrow gate? For wide is the gate, and Broad is the road that leads to destruction and many go the easy way and enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life. And only a few got the courage to find it. And my big point to you today is, if you feel inadequate, join the club. I know, at times I feel the same way too. I know what you feel. But the question is, is God that one in God always makes a majority? You may be inadequate, but the God in you is not. No, no. You might think I'm waxing poetical. I don't feel capable every time I stand behind this desk. I don't feel capable every time someone comes to me with a problem and issues. I don't always feel adequate. But that's not the issue. My God is. And that's why we pray. That's why we look to him. If I was adequate, I wouldn't need God. If you were adequate, you wouldn't need God. God intentionally designed us. It's like, you know, creating this great big old robot and then there's a space for the battery. Everything is well designed, but without the battery, it's inadequate. And what God is saying, would you plug back in? Yes. Without me, you're inadequate. But you can do all things through Christ with strength. If you plug back in, I'll be your strength. I'll be your refuge. I'll be everything you're not. But you gotta plug in to the source and the strength and don't run from it, but run back to him again. Frederick Douglass said, one in God always makes a majority. And if you want to face and deal with your inadequacy, here's the answer to it. Choose this day whom you will serve, whether your own abilities or you're going to trust God. You got to make a decision. You're married to that person. Are you going to trust your own abilities? Are you gonna trust God? You raising children by yourself, Are you gonna trust your own abilities? Are you gonna trust God? Crazy stuff happening on the job. You gonna trust your own abilities? Are you gonna trust God?
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Derek Greer
Thank you for joining us. Until next time, remember, you have what it takes in Christ to live big. We also invite you to partner with Derek Greer Ministries in bringing the life changing and impactful teachings of God's Word to the world. Get started by visiting Derekreer.com by clicking the link in the description.